All Men Are Blind to the Future
by dieUnerbittlicheFuchs
Summary: Brendan and Lucas are two charcters who appear in cameos at the beginnings of movies. This is their story. There will be small appearances by the rest of the anime cast, but most of the actual plot of the regions have been shifted over to Brendan and Lucas.
1. 10 Years Old

Chapter 1. 10 Years Old

Gales, I decided, are horrible. Especially when you are out in them. Even more so if it is your birthday, and you are walking across town, with the wind cutting through you like a knife through soft butter. April is the cruelest month. Sorry, Tom, but you've never been in a south Hoenn thunderstorm in July. The good news about the horrible weather was that it was guaranteed to keep Dad inside, so I wouldn't have to go halfway to Oldale Town to find him. He hates being cooped up in the lab, but he hates being out in the rain more.

I walked up the last hill on the road to the lab, eager to get there as quickly as I could. I didn't like being out in storms much, either. I ducked under the overhang of the lab and walked around to the front. Pulling open the glass door, I stepped inside and wiped my feet on the mat.

"Ah, Brendan, there you are. I wondered how long it would take you to get down here." A man with green hair in a white lab coat said as he walked toward me.

"Hey, Joshua," I said, "Is Dad here? I thought he might be, with the rain and all."

"He's in the back. Oh, and he wanted me to tell you that you're going to need to use your head more if you're going to help with research. Your mother would kill him if anything happened to you, and being reckless is a great way for something to happen." He smiled as he said the last part.

"Thanks," I said, letting Joshua get back to his work. I smiled sheepishly when he mentioned using my brain. I knew it wasn't the best idea to come here during a storm, but it was the only way I could get Dad in the lab for sure. Just like Joshua said, Dad was in the back. He was hunched over his laptop, entering some data he gathered last week while he was out doing fieldwork. He looked up when I came in, probably glad to take a break from being a data monkey for a while.

"Didn't take you too long to get here," he observed. I rolled my eyes.

"Good to see you, too, Dad. I came as soon as I knew you'd be inside."

"Well, it's your birthday. You're ten years old now, and that means you can have a Pokémon. You know what three I have. Which one would you like?" he said, walking over to a table with three pokè balls on it.

I thought for a moment, as I had many times over the last month. "I'd like Mudkip, please."

He tossed me the pokè ball containing the mud fish. "There you go," he said, smiling. "Why don't you go home and get to know each other a little bit. Maybe have your mother freak out because you didn't get the cute chicken."

I smiled at that. Mom always said that I sold get a Torchic, because it was cute. I thought the generally calm water type would suit me better. Torchic tend to be running from place to place all the time, and I didn't really want to have to keep up with one for my first experience as a trainer.

I thanked Dad for the Mudkip and headed back home. The rain had stopped, so the trip back home was much easier than the trip to the lab. When, I got home, mom was in the kitchen making dinner.

"Hi, honey," she said when I walked in, "Did you get your Pokémon from your father?"

I shook my head. "Am I that obvious?" I asked.

"No, you're just ten," she said. "And you're my son. You would have gone over there if the town was half flooded, just to get a Pokémon of your own."

"I'm taking him upstairs to say hello. I'll be down in a bit." I told her.

"All right," she said, as I walked up the stairs. "Tell Torchic hello for me." "About that..." I said, releasing Mudkip onto the stairs.

"Kip!" it cried happily.

"BRENDAN BIRCH!"

"Yes?" I asked, poking my head around the railing.

"WHAT IS THAT...THING DOING IN THE HOUSE!?"

"What, Mudkip?" I picked it up. "He's mine. Dad gave him to me at the lab."

"It's not living in the house." She said, then turned back to her cooking to prevent any kind of argument on my part.

"Good thing I won't be, either," I muttered under my breath. I carried Mudkip up the stairs to my room. I sat down on the bed at set Mudkip next to me. It looked up questioningly.

"Mudkip?" It asked. I put my hand on its back.

"How are you doing?" I asked it. "You want to go traveling with me?"

"Kip!" It chirped. "Mudkip!"

Mudkip and I stayed in my room until it feel asleep on the bed. I left it to sleep and went down to the kitchen. Dad had come home shortly after I did, and was being yelled at by mom for not making me take the Torchic. He was trying to explain himself, but she was having none of it.

"Come on, you can't expect me to force Brendan to be around a Pokémon he doesn't want. He's going to need a partner he has a bond with immediately if he's going to help me with fieldwork."

"He's not going all over Hoenn to help watch Pokémon build nests. You already spend enough time out there, gone for a weeks at a time."

"This isn't about me, and you're only making it about me because it makes you feel better to have someone to blame. Oh," he said, noticing me in the doorway, "Brendan, we were just talking about you."

"I heard," I said, trying to sound disinterested. "Mudkip's asleep upstairs, so I thought I'd come down here to not wake it up."

"Good idea," Dad said. "Mudkip's still young; he needs time to rest."

We ate dinner, and I went back to my room. Mudkip woke up when I entered and greeted my cheerily.

"Have a nice nap?" I asked.

"Kip!"

I laughed. "I'll take that as a yes, then. Want some food?"

"Mudkip!"

"What should I feed you, anyway?" I wondered. "Maybe, I should go ask Dad what he has for you. It would be what you're used to, probably." I stepped to the door and opening it to find Dad holding a bowl with Pokémon food.

"I thought Mudkip might like something to eat," he said.

"You were dead on. I was about to ask you what to feed him."

"Just give him this. I'll give you some food for when you go out. And you'll be able to buy some pretty easily, most towns will have a store that carries food for various Pokémon."

"Mom doesn't seem thrilled with the idea of me helping you," I said.

Dad grimaced a bit. "Well," he said, what she doesn't know won't hurt her, not for a couple of days, at least." He handed me the bowl and started to walk out of the room.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

He stopped at the door and turned. "Could you leave tomorrow?"

I cocked my head. "Leave to go where?"

"Petalburg City. I have a friend who's moving there to become the new Gym Leader. At the very least, you can be helpful while he moves in. It will take you a couple weeks to get there, so your mother will have a month to get used to the idea of you being on your own. She'll probably hate me for it, but, well, she'll get over it eventually."

"Sure. How do you plan to get me to get out of here without Mom noticing, though?"

"That's the easy part. You're going to be coming down to the lab to help me enter and sort some data. I would have needed you to do that even if your mother wasn't so against you leaving. After lunch, you'll head out toward Oldale Town."

I looked at him blankly. The idea of basically running away for a month didn't really appeal to me that much. I thought about it for a moment. One the one hand, I would have to wait for years before Mom was willing to let me go and help Dad with his research, and there wasn't much to do here in Littleroot in the meantime. On the other hand, my father was suggesting I skip town without telling anyone so I could make my mother panic so much she stops caring. That didn't seem like that great of an idea.

"Great," I said, "I'm going to get some sleep, then. See you in the morning."


	2. Do I Have to?

**WARNING: FEELS AHEAD **

Chapter 2: Do I Have to?

It was raining when I woke up. The rain dropped rhythmically on the roof, lightly giving the morning a soundtrack. I got up, took a shower, and got ready for the day. I grabbed my bag, and set my beret on my head before going down for breakfast. Grandpa was downstairs drinking coffee and reading the newspaper when I came down.

"Morning, Lucas," he said, then went back to his paper.

I threw some bread in the toaster and grabbed the butter out of the refrigerator. When the bread popped, I slapped some butter on it and dashed out the door toward the professor's lab. I didn't _think_ I was late, but I hadn't had a chance to check my pokètch before leaving. I reached the lab as I was finishing my last bite of toast. I opened the door, and ran straight into to the professor.

"Oh, uh, s-sorry, Professor Rowan," I said, "I didn't see you there."

He looked at me sternly. "Of course you didn't," he snapped, "You need to watch where you're going more."

I ducked around the professor and went inside the lab, where I distracted myself by organizing all of the files that various aides had removed and failed to put back where they belonged. They were all terrible about that, leaving things all over the lab. I usually cleaned up after them, because it was something I could do without screwing up. At least the filing systems have labels telling me what goes where.

After lunch, I was sweeping up the remains of a mishap with a paper shredder when Professor Rowan walked up to me.

"I-is there something you need, Professor?" I asked.

"Come to the back room when you finish here. I need to talk to you." He spun on his heal and turned around, leaving me standing with a broom and an open mouth. This way going to be terrible. I must have done something so bad that he didn't want to let anyone else know about it. Hopefully it wasn't something that wasted hours of everyone else's time.

I finished sweeping up and went back to the professor's office. He was working at his desk when I came in, so I stood in the doorway. I had been standing there a while when he looked at his watch. The movement broke his concentration on his work, and he looked over at me.

"Lucas! How long have you been there?" he asked, looking slightly annoyed. "Say something next time."

"Sorry, professor, it's just that you were working and-"

"I'm always working, Lucas," he interrupted. "Waiting for me to finish means you'll have to wait until I start falling asleep at my desk. Hm, this is good, though; it brings me to why I wanted to see you."

I rocked on my heels, waiting for the professor to tell me that he wants me to never come back because I messed up one time too many. He was going to start listing my flaws any second now. I braced myself to leave in shame and not leave the house for a few months.

"You need to be more confident, Lucas," Professor Rowan began, "That's why I called you in here. I want you to travel Sinnoh for a while. Hm! You'd also be decent for running errands when you're in some of the bigger cities. Yes, that's a fine idea. What do you say?"

I stood there, completely lost. I thought he was going to tell me to get lost and never come back, but this? I wasn't sure if he was serious or just trying to find a creative way to get me as far away from the lab as possible.

"Well? Don't just stand there with your mouth open, that's quite rude." He folded his hands under his chin. "Everyone needs to go on a journey sometime, and you need to realize that you aren't as hopeless as you think you are."

"I-I'm not sure if that's a good idea, Professor," I said, leaning on the door frame for support. "Sinnoh's a big place, and there are wild Pokémon out there. I couldn't take one of the lab's with me."

"Nonsense! You'll be taking one of the Turtwig we give to new trainers. There's one that's a little more energetic than the rest; it'll make a fine companion for you."

"But what about Rachel and the rest of my family? I can't just up and leave them. And what would my father say? He'd never let me go." I was trying any argument I could think of at that point. Going all around Sinnoh sounded like a good way to get somebody dangerous very mad at me. It tended to happen when I was in a crows.

"You think I wouldn't ask my senior aide if it was all right to send his only son across the region?" the professor asked, his eyes widening. "Just how senile do you think I am? Of course I talked to your father, we've been thinking about it for weeks."

"Now," he said, taking my silence as an excuse to end all argument, "Go home and pack; you're leaving early tomorrow morning. And take Turtwig with you, it would be better if you got to know each other before you ended up in Jubilife."

I left the professor's office and went to where we keep the Pokémon we give to new trainers. They lived outside the lab, in a small, grassy enclosure with a small pond and rocky outcropping.

"Hey, Lucas!" Sean, the assistant who takes care of the Pokémon before we give them out, called. "You don't come out here very often. What can I do for you?"

"Hey, Sean," I said, walking over to him. "The professor wanted me to get that Turtwig that's a little bouncier than most."

"Sure thing," he said, "It's just over here." He led me to the pond, where several of the small Pokémon were sunning themselves on the bank. "He we are," he said picking up the one closest in the water, "This is the one he's talking about. It's a feisty one," he added, as the Turtwig tried to wriggle out of his arms. "Do you want the pokeball, too?"

"Yes, please," I said.

"It's just over in the box by the door. Top left corner."

I went over to the small wooden box and opened it. There were little pieces of wood dividing the box into compartments where pokè balls were sitting in their miniaturized form. I grabbed the one in the top left corner and went back to where Sean continued to struggle with the Turtwig. I put Turtwig back in the pokè ball, said good-bye to Sean, and went back home.

Rachel was lying on the floor reading when I got back. When she heard me come back in, she jumped up. "Lucas!" she yelled, running up and hugging me.

"Hey there, little sis," I said, picking her up and walking into the living room. "How was your day?" I didn't get to see my sister as often as I would have liked, because I was working at the lab so much these days. I took time off for her fourth birthday last week, which was the first time I'd gotten to spend a whole day with her in months. I felt a twinge of sadness, knowing it was going to be a long time before I saw her again.

"Good," she said, "I helped grandpa with the flowers and then I helped him make cookies!"

"Sounds like fun to me," I told her. "Did they taste any good?"

"Yeah! You need to eat one!" she said. I put her down, and she ran into the kitchen and grabbed me one of grandpa's famous chocolate chip cookies."Here you go!" she said, handing me the cookie.

The cookie was warm to the touch. I took a bite, and it fell apart in my mouth.

Rachel looked at me. "Do you like it?" she asked, nervously.

I smiled at her. "Of course I do. I'm home for the rest of the day. What do you want to do?"

"Let's play outside!" she said, her green eyes shining as she began to bounce a little bit.

"Sounds like a plan," I said. "Just let me put my bag down, and the we can go to the park."

"Ok!" she said, and sat down right in front of the door.

I laughed and then went upstairs to drop off my bag. I decided to put Turtwig on my belt and take it with us to the park. I'm not sure if just having a Pokémon near you makes it more friendly, but I figured it was better to keep Turtwig where it couldn't get into any trouble.

Rachel and I walked across town to the park, where we spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the grass. When it started to get dark, we went home. When we got to the house, before going inside, I stopped.

"Rachel?" I asked.

"Yes, Lucas?" she said, looking up at me.

"I…I have to leave tomorrow."

"Leave to go where?" she asked, confused.

"The professor want me to travel Sinnoh," I explained. "He wants me to go all over the region, to see all of the cities and to help him in other towns."

"Oh," she said. She looked thoughtful for a moment. "When will you be back?"

"I don't know," I said.

She was quiet the rest of the night. Completely unlike her usual bubbly self. Even my dad, who was usually too wrapped up in his work with Professor Rowan, noticed. After dinner, I took her upstairs to her room to get her ready for bed. I read her favorite book as a bedtime story, and she giggled at my voices like she did every time, but there was a hint of sadness. When I finished, she looked up at me.

"Lucas." she said.

"Yes?"

"I don't want you to go."

"I don't either," I told her, "but I have to. And you need to be strong for me, ok?"

"Ok."

"Alright then," I said, tucking her in and giving her a hug. I started to leave the room, but stopped at the door after I turned off the light. "Rachel?" I said.

"Yes?"

"I love you."

I went back to my room and sat on the bed. I stared at the wall for a long time before I heard a noise from the other side. It was soft, as though muffled by a pillow, but I could tell it was Rachel, crying herself to sleep.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't do the same.


	3. Baby Steps

Chapter 3: Baby Steps

The storm had moved on when I woke up the next morning. Sun was streaming through my window, giving the entire room a soft glow. Mudkip was sleeping quietly on the foot of my bed. It stirred when I got up, but quickly went back to a deep sleep. I left it to its dreams and went to shower. This was probably the last shower I'd get before I got to Oldale Town, and that would take a couple days, at least. Mom was downstairs making breakfast when I came down.

"Morning, dear," she said. "Your father's already gone off to the lab, but he wanted you to get there as soon as you can."

"Alright," I said, stealing bacon from the cooling rack next to the frying pan. She slapped at my hand, but missed. "I'd be able to leave faster if you let me eat food as soon as it was ready," I joked.

"You're going to sit at the table like a civilized person," she said. "Now, shoo. I'm going to ruin your eggs if you don't leave me be."

Mom and I didn't see eye to eye all the time, which was one reason why I was leaving without telling her, but that doesn't mean we didn't get along. Sure, we'd have our squabbles, like the one last night, but I'd say that we were pretty happy overall. I just hoped that she'd understand why I needed to leave and go travel. I wasn't going to be able to help Dad with his research, which I'd wanted to do for years, if she wouldn't let me leave town. Having someone out in the region was invaluable for a professor; it gave them so much more flexibility with fieldwork and communication.

I ate breakfast and then went upstairs to grab Mudkip and pack for my trip. Bless whoever came up with collapsible tents. They make everyone's life so much easier, because they only take up half of the space in a bag. That leaves room for useful things like food.

I threw several jumpsuits in the bag. Joshua has told me a while back that they were good for keeping myself so bugs didn't feast on me. They were also very light, which stopped me from overheating in the jungle that is my home region. That worked well enough for me, and I'd worn them basically nonstop for months. When I finished packing, I looked at Mudkip, who was just starting to wake up.

"Mudkip." It said, its eyes half closed.

"Come on, Mudkip," I said, picking up its Pokèball. The mud fish looked at me expectantly. "What?" I said. "You want to be lazy and sleep in your Pokèball all the way to the lab? I don't think so." I picked it up. "You're going to be out in the open."

Mudkip grumbled a bit, but didn't try to get down from my arms. I said goodbye to Mom, trying to seem as normal as possible, as though I was just going off like I did every couple of days to help out with some menial task that Dad was too ADD to handle himself. I usually took my bag to the lab with some food, so she didn't get suspicious about that. All in all, I thought I had managed part one pretty well.

Because the lab was on the opposite end of town from my house, it took about half an hour to get there. It's one of the reasons that Dad's never around when I get up: he leaves around 6 to get in as much work as possible. Usually, he just leaves a note if he wants me to go to the lab or pick something up. He never leaves notes for Mom, though, so I'm beginning to think that they have a hive mind. Actually, I've thought that for years, but I digress.

I went straight to the back room where Dad would be waiting. I hate having a messy workspace, and he can't keep one clean for more than 15 minutes, so he was almost certainly cleaning off his desk so I could actually do things before I left for Petalburg.

Sure enough, there he was, moving the last stack of papers off his desk and finally making the place habitable. He looked as though he had forgotten that it was almost time for me to show up. That honestly didn't surprise me very much. Dad was, everyone agreed, a brilliant Pokémon researcher, but that didn't mean he was necessarily organized. Or sane, for that matter. He was always late and unprepared for interregional meetings, to the point where Joshua was expected to handle all of the presentations. Hopefully, I'd grow into that role with some experience as a researcher and a presenter. Just as long as Dad didn't do it. Nobody wanted that to happen again.

"Alright," he said, "Here's what I need you to do. Enter in these data I collected last week, then have the computer run the standard tests on them. Once you finish that, come find me and we'll get you outfitted for the trip to Petalburg. I have food and some supplies I keep here at the lab for fieldwork that you can use."

"Sounds good to me." I said, sitting down at the desk. I looked at the papers he wanted me to put in the computer. It was a bunch of notes on the berry preferences of some Poochyena clans living on route 101. Apparently, even total omnivores have preferences. Entering the data was tedious work, so I kept Mudkip around for conversation. Lazy Pokémon fell asleep in less than five minutes. That meant that I spent the next hour and a half entering data in total silence. Not my idea of a good time.

I had just finished when Mudkip woke up. Such perfect timing. "Come on," I said, getting up, "Time for us to get our stuff."

"Mudkip!" it said, hopping down from the desk.

We walked into the next room, where we saw Dad and Joshua were unpacking a box on a table. "What's going on in here?" I asked, moving over to see what they had unpacked. It was just a lot of plain white bags, plied neatly on the table. Clearly, Joshua was in charge here.

"We're taking inventory," Dad explained. "This, and those, are all of the food we keep here for people and Pokémon alike." he gestured toward more boxes stacked in the corner, "We already counted those out. This is the last box. You'll be taking most of it, actually."

"That's a lot of food for two weeks, don't you think?" I said, looking at the dozens of packages they had taken out of the box, which was only about half empty.

"Yes," Joshua said, looking up from his sorting, "But the truth is, we just don't have the room for it here. Besides, this might spare Norman from the terrible takeout in Petalburg. Wouldn't wish that stuff on my worst enemy."

"And you'll need some of it for the way back, too." Dad added.

"The way back?" Joshua looked incredulous. "It's not going to take him more than a week to get to Petalburg. He'll be going at a reasonable pace, unlike you, who gets distracted every time you see a Taillow."

"I'm not sure how much of that I can carry, anyways." I said, trying to get everyone back on subject. "Why don't I get my bag, so we can stuff it as much as we can and then leave the rest of the food in other boxes."

After a bit of a fight with the zippers and some creative rearranging, we managed to fit about half a boxes' worth of food into the space left in my bag. My tent stayed on top, so I wouldn't have to do the entire process again every night. Most of the food was dehydrated, meaning I could cook it by heating it in a pot, which we also through in. There was also food for Mudkip, which we put into a side pocket. All in all, my bag now was now completely filled, all six cubic feet completely stuffed with provisions. It was still surprisingly light; I didn't have any trouble lifting it.

"Well," I said, "I guess all I need to do is eat and hit the road."

"Yep," Dad said, "We've got some stuff here to make sandwiches, you can have one before you go. Wake up Mudkip so it can eat, too." I looked over it where Mudkip was sleeping. Again. Really, do they need 16 hours of sleep a day, or did I just get the laziest Pokémon in all Hoenn?

"Come, on Mudkip, we're going to eat." I said. It sprang up immediately. Yeah, this is a Snorlax in disguise. Nobody can tell me otherwise.

After lunch, I put Mudkip in its Pokè ball and started out. I looked at the map Joshua gave me before I left the lab, as I walked out of town. Odale Town looked to be about 50 miles north of Petalburg, meaning it would take me a couple days to get there. It would take another few days to get to Petalburg from there. Probably a week or so total trip. There were a couple of small hamlets between here and there, but mostly I'd be walking on the road without anybody else, unless somebody passed me on their way to see Dad at the lab.

I walked for the rest of the day and stopped about six hours later. Mudkip spent most of the day in its Pokè ball; I couldn't expect it to walk with me for 10 miles in the kind of heat we get down in Littleroot. I found a spot on a raised piece of land a few yards from the road, and set up camp there.

"Come on, Mudkip," I said, letting him out of his Pokè ball (Joshua had checked the files before I left: this Mudkip was a male). "We're going to go get some firewood." Finding some broken brush wasn't that hard, and most of it was surprisingly dry. The hard part involved me nearly getting burnt by the fire almost as soon as I light it, which caused Mudkip to quickly douse it with a Water Gun. Which meant I had to do the whole thing over again. Added to the to do list: catch a fire type.

After I rebuilt the fire without getting burnt, I opened one of Mudkip's food packages and set it out for him. He happily munched on the food that Dad had given me before we left, and I really hoped that buying more in Petalburg wasn't going to be too expensive. I had to eat, too.

I got out the pot and one of my food packets. I told Mudkip to use Water Gun to fill the pot, and then I left it to boil. The sun had set by that time, and the stars were shining dimly off in the distance. I sat and watched them for a bit. I used to do that at home a lot, just sit outside and look up at the sky. So many other people could be doing that as well, all over the world, all with their own thoughts as they looked up. It always seemed a little special to me, to be looking at the same sky as Professor Oak or Professor Elm.

"Kip!" Mudkip said, drawing my attention away from the sky. He gestured towards the pot, which was now boiling steadily. Must have drifted off for a bit.

"Thanks, Mudkip" I said, tearing open the food packet. I poured in the contents before I looked at the labeling on the packet. Cream of mushroom soup. That would probably be better food in Sinnoh than the jungle covered Hoenn region, but food was food, and I wasn't going to waste it now.

After eating, I sat in front of the fire for a while. Mudkip fell asleep shortly after he finished eating, so I was left to look after the blisters I had gotten from walking by myself. Naturally, I had brought a first aid kit, so the only difficult part was dealing with the sting of the alcohol I used to treat it. Once that was done, I laid back and looked up, slowly drifting off to sleep.

Sorry about the long wait, guys. My beta and I both just got off a couple of major time sucks. I hope to have the next one up by the end of June, so you shouldn't have too long of a wait in front of you.

Any reviews you can give would be great. I have some ideas where to go with this, but really, it's what I feel like writing when I sit down every night.

Also, after the next chapter I will have reached the 6,000 word limit to be a beta reader. I'll gladly take on anything you guys write, check out the beta profile at the end of next chapter for specific.

Thanks for reading,  
Baltimore


	4. The Lion and the Mice

Chapter 4: The Lion and the Mice

I left Sandgem Town before the sun rose. It seemed easier, leaving before the rest of the world was awake, because I didn't have to see anyone who could make me want to stay. The Professor hadn't really given me any specific places to go, so I thought I'd start by heading toward Jubilife City. It would be three full days' walk, then I would check in with Professor Rowan and see if there was anywhere in particular he wanted me to visit. I let Turtwig out of its Pokè ball for a bit of fresh air, which it responded to by running around me as I walked like some kind of Houndour. I passed some people on bikes going down to Sandgem Beach for a day of fun. In the small towns I passed through, everyone was out and about, tending to the front garden or chatting with the neighbors over some lemonade. A slight breeze was blowing, and the sun shone brightly. It was a beautiful day.

I sat down for lunch in an open field after about six hours of walking. I was exhausted by that point, and quickly drank an entire bottle of water. I had brought several of them so I could go a couple days without refilling, but if I came to a stream, I would fill everything up. They had filters on them, so I didn't need to worry about anything getting in my drinking water I didn't want.

I sat on the ground, breathing heavily. _I need to drink while I'm walking_, I thought. I looked down at the grass for a minute, then opened my bag and got out something to eat. The professor had had me pack a mix of dried and canned foods. For lunch, I had lots of nuts and dried fruits and meats. For dinner, there were lots of soups and stews. Dad told me that I would have to restock in Jubilife City, but said that all the kinds of food I would need would be at the trainer's store. And, since I was on the lab's budget, I didn't have to worry about paying for anything.

"Come on, Turtwig, let's get you some food," I said, looking around for it. Turtwig was sleeping in the sun a few feet from where I was sitting. "Oh, right," I said, "You're a plant. You don't need to eat. Ok, then."

I ate some fruit and meat I had rationed before I left Sandgem Town and then woke Turtwig up and started on my way. Route 202 starts north out of Sandgem, then turns west for a while, then north again, another length to the east, north again, west, and then north to Jubilife City. I was, according to my map, about halfway down the first western section of the route. Hopefully, I could get to the turn north tonight; that would put me in Jubilife in a couple days.

The weather turned hot in the afternoon, and when I walked into a little village a couple hours later, I must have looked like I ran the whole way there. I was covered in sweat, and my steps were getting shorter and heavier with every second. This was at about 3:00, long before I was planning on stopping for the night. I was beginning to seriously consider asking around to see if I could rent a spare room from somebody in town when a little girl ran up to me.

"Have you seen my Shinx?" she asked, sniffing. Her chocolate coloured hair was falling across her face, and her eyes were bleary. She looked to be about four or five.

"Nope, sorry," I said. "I haven't seen anything but some Starly."

" Jen! What are you doing?" A woman yelled rushing toward us.

"I'm looking for Shinx," the girl, Jen, said. "I'm asking this boy if he's seen him."

"I could help you look for him if you want. I'm sure he didn't go too far."

"Yay! Yay!" Jen said, jumping excitedly.

The woman looked at me. "Alright," she said, sighing. "I think Shinx went into the forest just off the path to the west of here. I need to take Jen back home, then I'll help you look, ok?"

I went out of the town and came across the forest in about 10 minutes. Sunlight streamed through the gaps between leaves, giving the forest a cheery atmosphere.

"There you are!" said the woman from before. "I think Shinx is somewhere in this forest. There aren't any wild Shinx around here, so any you find will probably be it. If you find it, yell for me."

"Sure," I said, "Oh, before you go, what's your name? So I know who to yell for."

"Oh, right, how rude of me." she said, shaking her head. "I'm

We headed off into the forest in opposite directions. I let Turtwig out of it's Pokèball after I'd taken a few steps.

"Hey, Turtwig," I said. "We're looking for a Shinx. Say something if you find one, ok?"

"Turt!" It said nodding.

We looked around for a while, but didn't see Shinx, or any Pokèmon at all, which struck me as odd. Usually, route 202 is bustling with flocks of Starly and groups of Bidoof and some Kricketot, but there was nothing around at all. Not seeing anything for over an hour was very unusual.

"This seem odd to you, Turtwig?" I asked the Tiny Leaf Pokèmon. It nodded, then perked up.

"Did you hear something?" I asked.

"Turtwig!" it shouted as it dashed off. I took off after it into a thicker part of the forest. I chased Turtwig through the underbrush until we reached a small stream. It was being dammed by some Bidoof under the supervision of a couple Bibarel. The Bidoof were busily rushing to and from piles of sticks and mud, gathering them and moving them into place. Well, I thought, they aren't Shinx, but they are the first Pokèmon we've seen since we got to this forest.

"Those aren't what we're looking for," I said, looking down at Turtwig and shaking my head.

"Turt!" It said gesturing with its forepaw towards one of the piles of sticks. "Turtwig!"

I looked at the pile, and saw a couple Starly drop twigs onto it. They quickly flew off again, and a pair of Bidoof grabbed the newly dropped twigs and scurried back to the stream.

"Hey, Turtwig," I asked, "Can you go ask one of the Bibarel what's going on here?"

It shouted something as it rushed off towards one of the Bibarel. The Biberal looked annoyed at first, then started talking to Turtwig. The two Pokèmon talked for a few minutes, then Turtwig came bounding back to me.

"Does it know where Shinx is?" I asked.

"Turtwig!" it said, starting off toward the river bank. I followed it, earning some strange looks from the Bidoof. Turtwig led me down to the edge of the stream, where many Bidoof were carrying mud up to the main damming site. Among them, I saw a tuft of blue fur. It belonged to one very dirty Shinx. The Shinx was helping the Bidoof move mud from the river bed to the dam, and it had gotten mud all over itself.

"Shinx!" I called waving my arms.

It looked up. "Shinx?" it asked.

"Come on, Shinx,"I said, walking toward it. "Jen and Jessica are worried about you. You should come home."

Shinx looked at one of the Bidoof, who nodded. It ran up to me, and we started back toward tube edge of tube forest. Jessica was waiting for us when we got there.

"Shinx!" she said, once she saw it. "You had us worried! And you're filthy. What have you been doing today?"

"There's a colony of Bidoof damming the stream in the forest. They've recruited the local Pokèmon to help out with the construction," I explained. "Shinx was down there with them."

"Well, I'm very glad to have Shinx back," Jessica said. "It's getting late, and this stopped you from walking farther. The least I can do is offer you food and a bed for the night."

"I can't ask you to do that," I said, backing up and holding my hands out.

"That's ridiculous," she said. "Look, the sun's already starting to set. You'd be stopping around now anyway."

The sun was, as I pointed out, most definitely not setting. Yes, it was starting to slide down the western sky, but there were around two hours of daylight left.

"Alright, look," Jessica said, starting to get annoyed. "You're coming back with me, because I need to do something to thank you, and Jen well want to say thank you too. There will be food and a bed for you. If you want that to go to waste, that's fine by me. Otherwise, you can eat the food and sleep in the bed. Got it?"

"Yeah," I said, "I guess I'll go."

The walk back to the village took about ten minutes. Jessica led me to a house on the edge of the village, and we went inside.

"Jen!" she said, "We're back!"

Jen popped out of a room off the main room. She ran up to Jessica and looked up anxiously.

"Did you find Shinx?" she asked.

"Yep," I said, "Shinx is right here."

Shinx stuck its head out from behind us, and, seeing Jen, ran up to her.

"Shinx!" Jen said, bouncing up and down excitedly. "I missed you so much!" She picked Shinx up and gave it a hug.

Jessica took me to the spare bedroom, and then I went to go and train with Turtwig. There was a small grassy field behind Jessica's house, so we went there. Mostly training was me throwing sticks and Turtwig firing off Razor Leafs. It's accuracy improved as the session went on; the first one nearly impaled a Starly that was perched in a tree.

Dinner was simple, just sandwiches out where Turtwig and I trained. They were delicious though, the tomatoes sweet and juicy from the garden, the mayonnaise fresh and creamy. It was like being home for one last day.

I went to bed much happier than I thought I'd be after a day on the road.

**Beta profile will be open soon. Send me your stuff when it does. Chapter 5 has a few hundred words already, but I can't promise it'll be soon, though it'll be faster than this.**

**Happy Writing!**


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